Our time is shaped in various ways by the spinning of events regardless of whether it’s the Earth’s rotation around Sun, or the shift workers changing between the night and day. Certain of these events occur every day, while others are more unpredictable and more irregular.
For instance, most people are aware that the Earth revolves around the Sun every day. The thing that is less well-known is the speed at which the Earth revolves can be different making the day appear longer or shorter than one would expect. This is the reason why nuclear clocks which maintain a standard time have to be periodically adjusted by adding or subtracting seconds. This change is called a leap second.
One of the most frequent occurring events in the world of rotation is precession which is the cyclical wobble of Earth’s axis of rotation similar to a spinny slightly off-center spinning top. This axial shift in relation to fixed stars (inertial space) has a period of 25,771.5 years, and is the cause of various weather patterns, including the alternating direction of cyclones in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
Scientists have also observed that the speed of Earth rotation slows down over time, leading solar day to become longer. This is why, on June 29 the world added the leap second to atomic clocks, so that they would be more in sync with the actual global rotation. While the addition of one second might seem like a small amount but it can have significant implications for companies that depend on changing schedules. For instance multinational companies that rely on an international workforce, fumbling through static wiki pages and spreadsheets to manage shifting call schedules could be costly in terms of revenue and reputation. On-call rotation software is becoming popular as it reduces interruptions to service and helps manage transfer coverage and gives employees a clearer picture of the situation.